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Shares slide as Royal Mail puts cheques in the post

Miles Costello

July 2 2014, 1:01am, The Times

Royal Mail’s shares have fallen since the privatisation of the serviceRui Vieira/PA

If you buy shares in Royal Mail today, you’ll miss out on last year’s dividend. The postal carrier was among the biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 yesterday, down 7¾p at 491¼p, as dealers braced themselves for the end of the right to the 13.3p-a-share payment.

Having surged in the wake of last October’s flotation, when the company was priced at 330p, the shares have languished recently as it emerged that Royal Mail was losing market share in parcels and suffering heavy competition in direct letter delivery from the rival TNT Post.

Shares peaked at 615p in January despite intense political scrutiny of its valuation in the privatisation, but last month fell below 500p a share, where they have stubbornly remained.